After that spluttering end to what had for so long looked set to be a stand-out season, the Hammers then found themselves running on empty throughout 1984/85.
Indeed, Lyall’s lads only secured their top-flight status with victory at Ipswich Town (1-0) in their penultimate game of an underwhelming campaign.
“Putting my finger on what happened? Trevor Brooking had just retired, while Alan Devonshire – a top, top player – got badly injured, too. Both were big misses in my second season, when Paul Allen was probably one of the few people who played consistently well that year. In fact, ‘Ollie’ probably got his move to Spurs based on his personal performances.”
Certainly, there was little hint of what was to come during Walford’s third term at the Boleyn Ground.
“We’d even got beaten at Orient (1-3) in a friendly just before the season began,” he sighs, recounting a sorry start to 1985/86, when West Ham won just one of their opening seven league matches. “And our main forward Paul Goddard got injured in the first game up at Birmingham City (0-1), too. Alan Dickens came off the bench at St Andrew’s and Frank McAvennie moved up front from midfield to cover for ‘Sarge’.
“As they say: ‘The rest is history.’ Things worked out well!”
Yes, slowly yet surely, the Hammers started clicking into gear as they headed into early-autumn buoyed by the summer arrivals of McAvennie (St Mirren) and Mark Ward (Oldham Athletic).
“Frank went on to have one of those first seasons that come along for strikers every now and again. He couldn’t do anything wrong – everything Frank touched turned to gold. Wardie also brought energy and effort into the team and we quickly saw him delivering some fantastic crosses into the box for Frank and Tony Cottee.
“TC was another top, top goal-scorer and, while everyone remembers Frank’s 28 goals, don’t forget that Tony scored 26 times, too,” contends the 67-year-old, who later enjoyed a highly-successful coaching career as No2 to Martin O’Neill at the likes of Leicester City, Celtic and Republic of Ireland before swapping the dug-out for a deckchair.
“It was really good to link-up with Tony later in his career. By the time TC arrived at Leicester, he’d become an all-round player rather than just a goal-scorer. His footballing intelligence really shone through and he became more involved in the overall team play – as he got older, Tony just got better and better.